OVERVIEW

Client
CareerFoundry

My role
UX/UI Designer
UX Researcher

Timeline
November 2017 - July 2018

Tools
Sketch, Invision, Balsamiq

Summary
SEEDSHARE is an app that connects users with certified experts in any field to learn and grow. It is an individual project for my UX immersion certification at CareerFoundry. I designed SEEDSHARE from low-fidelity sketches to a high-fidelity prototype through a process of iterations.

Features
Search experts by category
View and rate expert profiles
Communicate with experts through voice and text chat
Schedule appointments for consultations
Apply to become an expert to earn money

MY APPROACH: DESIGN THINKING

For this project, I applied the Design Thinking methodology. Design Thinking is a multi-stage process focused on providing solutions to problems.

• Emphasize: understand the challenge through competitive analysis
• Define: identify the problem by performing user research
• Ideate: provide solutions with user journeys based on observations
• Prototype: build experimental solutions from wireframes to interactive prototypes
• Testing: gather feedback from real users and iterate

DISCOVER

User Research

Challenge

In the first step of the project, I recognized the difficulties that users faced when trying to find advice from experts. They had limited access to professional help, and traditional ways of connecting with experts were time-consuming. The situation was frustrating for users and prevented them from moving on to other activities in their lives.

Goals

To understand how users seek help from experts

To learn which apps the user likes and dislikes

To determine the user's attitude about seeking help from experts and what their expectations are

I conducted in-person interviews with 3 participants. Each session lasted about 20 minutes. Before the interviews, I created a script to guide the interaction. During the interviews, I would record the participants with their permission.

Results from Affinity Mapping

After the interviews concluded, I analyzed the recordings to learn about the participants' mindsets. Affinity mapping is an efficient tool to categorize data from different users. I used multi-colored sticky notes to represent the feedback from the participants. Then, I clustered the sticky notes based on common themes and repeating patterns.

After performing user research, I gathered helpful insights for my app.

• Users want experts to give them specific answers to their questions.
• Users don’t want any advertisements on the app because it can interrupt their experiences.
• Users are not familiar with using a mobile app to find experts.
• Users want an app that can help them find experts more easily
• Users want to find experts who are passionate and understand their problems.

DEFINE

USER PERSONAS

In order to focus on my target audience, I created three user personas. My personas were fictional characters with detailed backgrounds, descriptions, and behavior. They included facts and information observed during research. I used the personas to guide design decisions on important features of my app based on their characteristics.

IDEATE

USER JOURNEY

After creating user personas, I designed user journey maps to describe the steps my personas will perform in order to achieve a goal in SEEDSHARE. It also helped to visualize the experiences that the users had when interacting with my app. 
The scenarios will tie to the specific users' needs:

• Cathy wants to find a travel destination, so she decides to download the expert app to seek advice.
• Raymond wants to have a healthier lifestyle, but no one in his personal network can help him solve the problem. As a result, he uses the expert app to learn about healthy habits.

USER FLOW

After making the user personas and user journeys, I established objectives for SEEDSHARE.

• an app that can help users connect with different experts at the user's convenience
• an app that can help users talk to an expert on a regular basis
• an app that can help users find an expert based on the user's specific problems
  

Based on objectives of the app, I created user flows to demonstrate how to help the users complete different tasks by following steps.

• Schedule an appointment with an expert
  
• Save their favorite experts

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

To organize the content in SEEDSHARE, I used a technique called card sorting with OptimalSort, an online software tool. First, I made a list of content topics. Then, I performed the test by having five users organize topics into their own categories. With this feedback, I decided to enhance the structure of my app.

RESULTS

• The main home page will include these categories: experts search, Blogs, User profile, and Dropdown menu
• Dropdown menu will include these features: FAQ, Settings, Payment, Send feedback, Call history, Become an Expert, and Log out
• Blogs will have a search function for experts
• The homepage will have a featured experts list
• The user can add consultation appointments to their calendar
• The user can contact experts with three options: chat, video or audio call, and in-person
• Blogs will contain a comments section where users can express their opinions
  

SITEMAP
This is an updated version of the sitemap after the card sorting sessions. It shows the main features of the app and how users might interact with the whole app. Additionally, it shows the relationships between each feature.

PROTOTYPING

LOW-FIDELITY PROTOTYPE

The purpose of my low-fidelity prototype is that it allows me to include all the core features of the app. It also saves time to not focus on the design aspect too much, but gear my attention towards the layout and navigation without distraction. Below are some hand-drawn sketches to illustrate how users can complete some main tasks in my app. 

• Search and find expert
• Schedule an appointment and add it to the calendar
• Add a payment method

MID-FIDELITY PROTOTYPE

In this process, I added some of the UI elements of my app. However, it did not contain any color or graphics. This prevented distractions from the design process and focused more on perfecting the layouts of both mobile and desktop versions. I used Balsamiq to create this stage of my design. I also showcased how I want to implement my design decisions further such as adding a rating systems under expert's profiles, the distance between the expert location to user's current location, and articles written by experts.

HIGH-FIDELITY PROTOTYPE

The high-fidelity prototype shows every single detail of all design aspects from the layout to the content. It is not the final version of my app, but it shows how my app will look as an end-product. I used Sketch, which is an industry standard design tool, to design my high-fidelity prototype.

View and rate expert through a rating system

Users can read through the existing ratings for each expert. They can decide to give the expert a try and see what expetise that these professionals have to offer.

Schedule appointments for consultations

User can view  through expert's profile to understand their specialization. They can develop the relationship with expert by sending them messgages regarding the questions that they have.  They can have another option to continue booking based on expert's time schedule.

TESTING

USER TESTING

For the usability testing, I recruited 6 participants. I used two methods to test the users: moderated in-person and moderated remote. In the moderated in-person sessions, I tested the user on one laptop and used another laptop to take notes. In the moderated remote method, I communicated with the user through Skype or Facetime.

GOALS
The goal of this usability testing is learning about the user's behavior. I want to know what the user expects from an expert app, and how they interact with my app at the initial phase with the website and mobile app versions. I also would like to observe the user's behavior and body language when they explore some of the app's features, such as searching the experts, viewing an expert’s profile, and scheduling a call with an expert.

REPORT
After testing, here is the report of the issues that users had:

• Users don’t know where to login or sign up
  
• Users can’t find message expert button on expert’s profiles
  
• Users can’t go back to the previous screen when they click on the back button
  
• Users can’t indicate what pages they are on
  

CHANGES
I already made all the change following users’ issue above:

• Changed all the word choices to “Login” and “Sign up”
  
• Added message button on the expert profile screen
  
• Linked all back buttons to the previous screen
  
• Highlighted the UI icons with different colors to show the page that the user is in

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